I received today’s figure in the mail just last week, even though it came out 20 years ago! I am talking about the western capercaillie, also known as a European grouse, Tetro urogallus, which was released by Schleich in 2000. A common and familiar bird, it is surprising there were so few figures made of it, and they are all, to the best of my knowledge, retired. I was lucky to find this one on eBay here in the US.
The western capercaillie is a species of landfowl endemic to the Palearctic, including Scandinavia, northern and eastern Europe, and Central Asia, with scattered populations in mountainous regions of continental Europe. Their populations have declined in some areas due to habitat destruction, although they are broadly still classified as Least Concern.
Like many landfowl, the western capercaillie has extreme sexual dimorphism. Cocks are large and colorful, while hens are smaller and drab in color, probably to blend in with surrounding terrain while incubating eggs. Cocks, which this figure is, measure 74 to 88 centimetres from beak to tail. Unfortunately, because birds are typically measured from dead specimens that are stretched out, it is hard to calculate the scale of figures in natural postures. This particular figure is 6.0 cm tall.
There are a lot of unique morphologies with regards to the color of the male capercaillie, and this figure highlights important ones. The base color of the body is a green that, when light hits it right, seems to reflect blue (not sure how they did that); the wings are brown with white shoulder spots; the dark tail feathers have white mid-ring; the beak is ivory; and the red patch of skin above the eye is present. The figure has a base of sorts, of what appears to be grass, between its legs. This is not to elevate the figure, but rather give support between its slender legs, a common solution with bird figures, especially those of this vintage.
For its age, this is a fantastic figure of this species and comes recommended. It shows up on eBay with some regularity (it was not the only one available when I bought it…), so until someone makes one again, this is probably the best option. Bullyland made one as well, but, in my opinion, does not look nearly as good and from what I have been told, is larger than this one.
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Nice review of an unfortunately underrepresented species. The bird is in fact threatened by extinction in my home country (Germany, but also neighboring countries) and the detection of a breeding pair prohibits any human project in the vicinity, as building roads or power stations. You should think that kind of popularity would cause more interest in the species, also as toys, but yeah, as comparably crude as the sculpt is, in comparison to modern bird sculpts, it`s the best one around. A new release, most welcomed as a pair, would be a real treat.